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Jun 27, 2014

You deserve to be happy! Happiness is:
1. Hubby's simple birthday celebration of Pansit, Fried Chicken and Pastel.
2. I won tickets to see Transformers Age of Extinction on 4DX!!
3. Did I say 4DX already?
4. 2048, my new addiction.
5. Pastel. Yummy.
6. Little kisses from the kids.
7. My Fossil watch was not defective, just the battery. Whew!
8. No professors on 2 subjects last Saturday, yey!
9. Going to the gym religiously and not hoping to see results the day after, hahaha.
10. My Inay for cooking simple yet delicious meals everyday.

Jun 23, 2014

In my first visit to Siam Reap in Cambodia in 2012, we stayed at Cheathata Angkor Hotel. This is near Pub Street, which is the area know for tourist friendly restaurants and bars, as well as the Night Market. We stayed at this hotel for two nights because our arrival in Siam Reap is at 930pm. We spent one and a half day touring the Angkor Wat temples and then left on the second day to go to Phnom Penh. We stayed in one room for 5 of us, and I think we spent around P2,500 per person. The upside in this hotel is the buffet breakfast and we were able to load up that we didn't need to take lunch.

Cheathata Angkor Hotel

On my next visit to Siam Reap, we stayed at the Unique Angkor Villa. This is near Cheathata as well and just walking distance from Pub Street and the night market. We got 3 rooms for six of us, and only spend P2,400 per room or P1,200 per pax. Breakfast was plated, but we got unlimited coffee and cold water. We also had cold towels when we get back from our tour.

The Unique Angkor Villa

I can say that I was able to experience Siam Reap in two ways-one on a budget, and another on a not-so-budget trip. With my office friends, we rented a van but with the my BFF's we roamed the temples on Tuktuk. Both experience was great. If you have more budget to spend, you can try to stay at Cheathata because of the buffet breakfast, but service was better at The Unique Angkor Villa.

Happy 36th birthday to the man I love, and with whom I plan to share the rest of my life with. Life may not always be perfect, but I know that with you, everything is going to be alright. Happy birthday, and I love you!

Jun 21, 2014

As I have many times before, I am poor, hahaha But that does not stop me from traveling! I should be using my money to pay for other things, but I sometimes use it to travel. But I find ways to make it as cheap as possible, without having to sacrifice our safety or comfort. So how do I do it? Here's how:

For both trips, we bought our tickets during the P1 seat sale of Cebu Pacific. I paid no more than P3,500 per person for Manila-Siam Reap and Ho Chi Minh-Manila round trip tickets. I think regular fares are around P11k to P12k per person. Our February 2012 tickets were bought in March 2011, and our February 2014 tickets were bought around March-April of 2013. Yes, we have almost a year to save for our pocket money.

I signed-up with Agoda and looked for the cheapest hotel possible, with free airport transfers and breakfast. Since we will arrive at night, free hotel transfers means a lot of savings. And eating a heavy breakfast means savings since we loaded up, and forego lunch.

I booked our Tuktuk with the Tuktuk drivers themselves so I can haggle with them. They cost more when you book through your hotel.

I made a detailed itinerary and places to visit, so that I can show it to the Tuktuk driver, and maybe get a discount since we wouldn't be taking a full tour, just the more beautiful ones to avoid being 'templed-out'. That means seeing too many temples that they become one big blur of temples, and forgetting the more memorable ones.

We decided to get a one-day pass only and maximize the whole day. We only paid $20 for a day pass instead of $40 for a 3-day pass. We loaded up during breakfast and had sandwiches while touring. We also brought our own water from the hotel because they cost more at the Angkor complex.

We also alternated between eating in good, local restaurants and street food, both for variety and for savings. We get to everything from a $10-dollar dish to a $0.50 street grub.

There are a lot more ways to save, as long as you know how to stretch your budget. Always research the places that you will visit, and read about other people's experience. I think I only spent $250 on my first time in these places, and $350 on the next. The difference is for pasalubong, hahahaha. Not bad for almost a week of travel, right?

Jun 20, 2014

Cambodia 2014

Cambodia 2012

I have been on a Cambodia-Vietnam trip twice already. Once in 2012 with 4 of my office mates. It was my first time to travel outside of the country so I wanted to do it first with seasoned travelers. The next one was early this year, when I brought my husband and the 4 Super friends on the same trip. I enjoyed myself immensely in both trips, because during the first one, everything was new and my office mates were so great about it, indulging my habit of taking pictures of everything! I may have take more than a thousand pictures during that 5-day trip. On the second time, I enjoyed myself simply because my husband was there, and the Superfriends who are the closest people to me, next to my family. The place was not new to me, but the experience was entirely different. It was my turn to be a guide, and yet, I discover new things too! I highly recommend this trip for couples and group of friends, not much for those with young kids.

So for the next few entries, please bear with me as I finally write about the visit to the Angkor Wat temples and finally crossing off one item from my bucket list.

Jun 18, 2014

" If you were given a chance to unlock the following skills, why would you choose to unlock such skill and why?"

Type faster and flawlessly.

Never forget any detail.

Create awesome presentation decks.

Multitask at any given time.

If given the chance, I would prefer to multitask at any given time. That way, I will be able to accomplish a lot of things, and still have quality of life!

I am a wife to a great husband, mother to three wonderful kids, daughter to an awesome mom, sister to two cool ladies, a hard-working employee, a struggling MBA student and friends to many people that I can only call awesome. Aside from these, I have a passion for traveling on a budget, I love to climb mountains and I love to write on my numerous blogs. I do many things at a time, and they all compete for my attention. My family takes priority over everything else, then comes my work which is my source of income, and then everything else in my life is to fulfill some needs that I have to satisfy. And I want to do them all, love doing them all, but sometimes, I am dying with fatigue because of them all! One friend recently asked why I keep on doing some of them, like taking an MBA degree, which is my 'unfinished business' by the way, and will be a subject of a different some other time, but I can't seem to stop myself. It is not a punishment because I enjoy all of them, and yet, one can only do so much with the hours that we have.

So if I have a choice, I would love to have the ability to multitask so that I don't spread myself too thinly, and get to enjoy every thing and every minute of my life with everybody that I love!

But yeah, I do know when to take a break, thanks to #KITKATBreakMovement!

Happiness is:
1. My MBA classes started last Saturday. I am hoping this is going to be a blast.
2. Having Saturday classes means I am now free to do more stuff with my family on Sundays, and plan new climbs too.
3. Spicy lechon belly from Cebu. Perfect for our Father's Day lunch celebration.
4. Reading newspapers and finding that I kind of like it!
5. One paper almost done! Not used to this I usually wait two weeks before doing my papers, hahaha.
6. Kids are now having regular classes and waking up in the mornings are not as hard as last week.
7. Dilis and Tuyo as part of our regular meals.
8. Still trying to lose weight and managing to lose 1 pound after two weeks, hahahaha!
9. Food from officemates who traveled abroad. My palate is educated na, hahaha!
10. Chocolates, coffee and more chocolates! Patay ang diet.

Jun 17, 2014

I was saddened to hear about the news of the local tourist who died while white water rafting in Cagayan De Oro last week. We also did it in January last year, and though we knew it was a dangerous sport, we had lots of fun. There was never an instance when we thought our lives where in danger. We had a briefing and there were enough guides for all of us. There was 5 of us in the raft, and two more as guides. Aside from them, we also have a guy to take pictures and another one as sort of 'runner'. Maybe because it was raining or it rained when they did the rafting, but I also know that this was the first incident ever and nobody would have wanted this to happen. I just hope that the local government will find more ways to make the rafting experience more safe that it already is, and I am sure everybody will welcome changes if it means a lot to our well-being. Always remember, it is not always enough to have fun, but to safe while doing it!

Jun 11, 2014

I started blogging in 2008, and I have been with Blogger ever since. I love how it is easy to use and how I can easily change my templates and stuff. I love Blogger so I have never tried blogging using Wordpress. Until now. What's funny is if not for work, I wouldn't even attempt to create a wordpress blog. See, one company website uses wordpress and as a blogger, it fell upon me to help upload documents to the blog. Anyway, my newest blog, Dinah Was Here was born. It's mostly going to be about places I've been to, how to be a budget traveler and some trips on how to do it on your own.

Let's see if I can keep blogging and writing on my 6 (or is it 7) blogs, 1 tumblr, 1 instagram, 1 twitter, and my Facebook. And don't forget I have a full-time job, and I am a mom too! And oh, yeah, I am taking up my Masters too. Hahahaha, way too many distraction!

Jun 4, 2014

Happiness is:
1. Shopping for school supplies, shoes and everything else that we can think is finally done! We just need to cover the books and notebooks and we are ready for Monday!
2. My eldest being responsible for his younger siblings. Yey for responsibility.
3. Setting up a new wordpress blog! Excited!
4. Busy with work and at home and yet loving it.
5. Going back to the gym, and this time hopefully this will work.
6. The Nike Training Club App on my IPhone.
7. My legs hurt from those squats. Then, I must be doing something right then!
8. Popcorn!
9. Kindle on my IPhone.
10. Our leaking roof was fixed yesterday. We are ready for the rainy season.